Nothing is impossible
Another great story that I recall regarding belief has a little bit of a twist to it, though. Cynthia Kersey wrote about George Dantzig in the book, Unstoppable. As a college student, George studied very hard. He was a studious person, but he was always staying up late studying. Because of that, he overslept a lot.
One morning, he arrived to class 20 minutes late. There was something up on the board and he quickly copied the two math problems. He assumed they were the homework assignment so he jotted them down. And, it took him several days to work through the two problems, but he finally had a breakthrough he dropped the homework off the next day on his desk.
Later on a Sunday morning, George was woken up by a phone call, and his professor called so excited, just exasperated because he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Since George was late for class that day, he hadn’t heard the professor announce that those two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind teasers that even Einstein hadn’t been able to answer. But George, believing that he was just working on some ordinary homework assignments, had solved not one but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.
Now, what’s my point in all this? The point is it’s based on what your beliefs are. He didn’t believe that they were difficult because he never planted a seed of, “Oh Gosh, those are impossible.” Now, had he been in class that day to hear that, do you really think he would have accomplished them? Do you think he could have solved them? Probably not, because he had already told his subconscious, “Oh, those, I can’t achieve those. Those are too hard.”
My question for you tonight is what challenges are you facing today. What is it that you’re struggling with? What is it that you’re not at the level where you want to be? Is it your career? Is it your job? Is it the status within a company? Is it your finances? Are you struggling financially like so many Americans are right now? Is it the inability to make the money? Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Are you challenged in a relationship, whether it be in a married relationship, a dating relationship, maybe a relationship with yourself? What are the challenges that you’re facing?
And then I want to ask you to think about those challenges, and then answer this next question honestly. Do you sincerely want to overcome them, meaning do you sincerely want to either accomplish what it is that you want to accomplish, or get past the feelings of insecurity, or maybe lose those 50 pounds, or maybe take that trip or make the kind of money that you’ve always wanted to make? Are you really sincere in hitting that and overcoming whatever is holding you back?
If you’ve answered yes, which I hope you have, if it’s really something that you’re wanting to change in your life, then my next question is can you believe that you can achieve it? Can you picture yourself achieving it? If you can’t, then I can guarantee you you won’t. But if you can, if you really, really believe and know in your heart, and have that conviction that you can do it, then I believe you will.